Former Detroit Lions running back Mel Farr had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) at the time of his death in 2015, according to a report.
ESPN’s “Outside The Lines” says Farr’s family donated his brain and spinal cord to the Boston University School of Medicine, where researchers have been testing the brains of deceased athletes for CTE.
CTE is a brain disease associated with blows to the head.
Farr died in 2015 at the age of 70. At the time of his death, the cause was not immediately known. ESPN says Farr died of a massive heart attack due to undiagnosed hypertension.